Kent-Andre Mardal

Kent-Andre Mardal is a Professor at the Department of Mathematics, University of Oslo. He specializes in computational mechanics with a strong focus on biomechanical applications in medicine, particularly in modeling brain clearance mechanisms during sleep. His work integrates multi-physics modeling, fluid-structure interaction, and poroelastic couplings to advance understanding of the glymphatic system and cerebrospinal fluid dynamics.

Education:

• PhD (2002) – Simula Research Laboratory

Research Interests:

Mardal's research spans a wide range of disciplines including:

• Computational Mechanics – developing robust numerical algorithms for complex physical systems
• Biomechanical Applications – particularly in neuroscience and medical imaging
• Brain Clearance During Sleep – modeling the glymphatic system and CSF flow dynamics
• Multi-Physics Modeling – integrating fluid dynamics, elasticity, and neural networks
• Finite Element Methods – for accurate and efficient simulations
• Neural Networks in Scientific Computing – exploring physics-informed neural networks

Research Trends from Publications:

Mardal's recent publications (2022–2025) demonstrate a clear focus on brain fluid dynamics, particularly the glymphatic system, CSF circulation, and neurodegenerative disease modeling. He employs advanced numerical techniques such as isogeometric analysis, physics-informed neural networks, and parameter-robust preconditioning to solve complex multi-physics problems. His work bridges medical imaging (MRI) with computational modeling to provide insights into brain clearance mechanisms and their impairment in diseases like Alzheimer's.

Scientific Awards:

No specific awards are mentioned in the provided text.

Grants and Projects:

Currently, Mardal is the Principal Investigator (PI) of three active research projects:

• Alzheimer's Physics – exploring the role of fluid dynamics in neurodegeneration
• Scientific Machine Learning – advancing numerical methods with AI
• Computational Hydrology – modeling subsurface fluid flow

Affiliations and Teams:

Mardal was previously a group leader at the Centre of Excellence “Biomedical Computing” at the Simula Research Laboratory. He has authored over 100 papers and several books, and his research homepage is available at https://kent-and.github.io/.